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Brendan Clement
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One page states the characters and lengths each kind of name can have, following the rules lancedb #4490 centralizes, with examples. It says what enforces them today: the embedded library checks table characters but not length, a directory namespace accepts more, the SDKs check db:// names only from the first release that includes #4490 (none yet), and a deployment can accept a longer name at creation and fail on it later. Readers are told to keep to the rules regardless. Limits, table creation and namespaces link to it.
73 lines
3.3 KiB
Plaintext
73 lines
3.3 KiB
Plaintext
---
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title: "Naming rules"
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sidebarTitle: "Naming Rules"
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description: "The names a database, namespace, table or view can have, and which versions check them."
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icon: signature
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keywords: ["names", "naming", "table name", "namespace name", "identifier", "characters", "limits"]
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---
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A name ends up in a storage path, in a deployment's URLs, and in the identifiers
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that [authorization](/governance/authorization) records, so not every string
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works as one. A name that follows the rules on this page works on every
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connection. Some connections accept more today, as
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[below](#which-versions-check-them), but treat these rules as the contract.
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## The rules {#rules}
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| Object | Characters | Length |
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| --- | --- | --- |
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| Table, materialized view | ASCII letters and digits, `-`, `_`, `.` | 1 to 128 characters |
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| View | ASCII letters and digits, `-`, `_`, `.` | 1 to 128 characters |
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| Namespace | each component: ASCII letters and digits, `-`, `_`, `.` | 1 to 64 characters a component; at most 10 components |
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| Database | ASCII letters and digits, `-`, `_`, `.`, and `/` between components | up to 64 characters |
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| Branch | anything but `$` and `:` | 1 to 64 characters |
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| Secret | ASCII letters and digits, `-`, `_`, `.` | 1 to 128 characters |
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| Function {/* if functions launched */} | ASCII letters and digits, `_` -- no `-` or `.` | 1 to 128 characters |
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And for every name:
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- It can't be empty, and neither can any component of a namespace path or a
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database name.
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- It can't be `.` or `..`, nor can any of its components.
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- A namespace path whose first component is `public` can't have a second one.
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`$` and `:` are never in a name: a deployment writes a namespace path and a
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table as one identifier joined by `$`, and a database and a table, or a table
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and a branch, joined by `:`.
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## Examples {#examples}
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| Name | |
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| --- | --- |
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| `documents`, `user-events.v2`, `train_2026` | valid table names |
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| `["prod", "search"]` | a valid two-component namespace path |
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| `my table` | refused: a space |
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| `orders$2026` | refused: `$` joins a namespace and a table |
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| `résumés` | refused: not ASCII |
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| `["public", "search"]` | refused: `public` can't have a child |
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## Which versions check them {#which-versions-check-them}
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The rules come from lancedb
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[#4490](https://github.com/lancedb/lancedb/pull/4490), which gives the SDKs and
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deployments one set of name checks. What enforces them depends on the
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connection and the version:
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- **The embedded library** refuses a table name with any other character, and
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`.` and `..`, but sets no length limit beyond what the filesystem allows. A
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directory namespace accepts other characters in namespace names.
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- **The SDKs on a `db://` connection** check every name above before sending a
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request, from the first release that includes #4490. As of v0.41.0-beta.2, no
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release does: earlier releases send names to the deployment unchecked.
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- **A deployment** checks names itself, but not on every path in every version.
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Some accept a longer name when a table is created and then fail on it later --
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when the table is dropped, or in background work on it.
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So keep to the rules even where a longer or unusual name is accepted: a name
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that works today on one connection can fail on another, or later on the same
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one.
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See [Limits](/basics/limits#names) for the other bounds, and
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[Namespaces](/management/namespace#namespace-paths-and-names) for how a path is
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built.
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